The impact of Spotify features on music discovery in the streaming platform age

Music discovery and music consumption, in general, have changed significantly in the age of digitization. Physical record stores were replaced by online music streaming platforms. This evolution changed the music industry for both consumers and artists. The music industry shifted to a subscription-based business model, offering access to immense music libraries for a monthly fee. Spotify, as the biggest music streaming service, has had a large role in this shift. The music streaming giant incorporated techniques to guide users through their enormous music catalog by offering music recommendations. Research suggests that Spotify has caused an increase in quantity and diversity of music consumption. This thesis studies the role of the different Spotify music discovery features on the perceived impact of Spotify on music discovery among students. This research applies a cross-sectional research design with an online questionnaire that was filled out by 152 respondents. Students that actively use Spotify to consume music were sampled from the population. The data was analyzed by applying the statistical analyses; Pearson’s correlations, One sample T-test, and multivariate OLS-regression analyses. Two separate models were tested in the regression analyses measuring the relationship between the different Spotify music discovery features and the dependent variables measuring the perceived impact of Spotify on music discovery, and Spotify perceived as the most useful music discovery tool. The results of model 1 indicate that there is a significant positive relationship between the Spotify music discovery features discover weekly, and recommendations based on previous listening behavior and the dependent variable PSEMD. While the results of model 2 indicate that there is a significant positive relationship between the music discovery features discover weekly, recommendations based on previous listening behavior, popular playlists and the search bar, and the dependent variable PMUMDT. These results suggest that these Spotify music discovery features effect the perceived impact of Spotify on music discovery among students. With the music discovery feature, recommendations based on previous listening behavior having the strongest effect on the perceived impact of Spotify on music discovery.